Recent technical and management improvements in US inland waterway transportation

Over the last several years, the US inland waterway transportation industry has significantly reduced its fuel consumption and improved its efficiency, with the side effect of less fuel tax collected per ton of cargo carried, despite the increase in cargo traffic. Fuel tax revenues are used for rehabilitation and construction projects in the inland waterway system, hence the US Army Corps of Engineers, providing us with relevant data over the interval in question, asked us to investigate this surprising reduction, and determine the main technical and fleet management improvements that caused it. Our research involved both visits with most major US inland waterway fleets, interviews with their engineers and managers, as well as statistical analysis of the above data. Technical improvements (such as engine plant efficiency increases), lighter, stronger building materials (such as light steel), and improved designs for better hydrodynamics, were not as important compared to management improvements (such as the use of computer-aided monitoring systems and advanced telecommunications, optimized tow configuration and speed, and increased triangular trips as opposed to simple round trips with returns empty). In addition, the demand for less expensive, imported steel for the US has resulted in an increased percentage of fully loaded return trips from New Orleans to the US Midwest, and hence also in increased fleet utilization.     

Deregulating the bus industry in Britain: a rejoinder

In our critique for the Buses White Paper, we argued that ‘competition for licences’ could achieve most of the benefits of competition without the major disadvantages of ‘competition on the road’. In response to the comments of Beesley and Glaister, we explain how comprehensive franchising of good and bad routes alike would encourage effective competition, whilst providing conditions for the transparent continuation of cross‐subsidy where that was the choice of the local authority in question. We correct their misrepresentation of our arguments on the desirability of cross‐subsidy and on the case for minibuses, and explain why we believe that such cost savings as are achieved will be mainly at the expense of staff or customer service. Finally, we restate the case for believing that a unified planned timetable will provide a better service for a given level of resources than will uncoordinated competitive services.     

Airport ground transportation management: moving towards the turn of the century

Over the last fifty years ground transportation management (GTM) has slowly evolved into a major function at most larger airports. However, during this time there has been relatively little written discussing the idea, organization structures or duties included within this functional activity. This paper reviews and updates the limited, earlier research. This study replicates initial work done in 1989 and thus provides a short longitudinal view of the airport GTM function. The final results demonstrate the current position of GTM and suggest trends for the future.     

Economic appraisal of European transport projects: The state-of-the-art revisited

Substantial investment has been made at national and European level in transport infrastructure over the past 50 years and is likely to continue in the future. The need to appraise transport projects in economic and social terms has developed alongside this in both scope and complexity. The state-of-the-art in the economic appraisal of transport projects is reviewed, progress is assessed and future challenges are identified. The review addresses the general framework, treatment of major impacts, presentation of outputs and issues such as uncertainty. It draws on national practice in Western European countries, which varies substantially reflecting a range of cultural and economic differences. Some points of commonality exist and the principle of monetizing direct transport impacts is generally accepted. Progress has been made towards the measurement of environmental impacts, but the assessment of the wider impacts remains under-developed. Increased sophistication and complexity has brought increasing data and presentation requirements, where computerized decision support methods have potential. Many challenges exist for the future of appraisal and the review is concluded with a discussion of some key issues. At the heart of these is the continuing debate over the relative roles of national and European government in decision-making and resource allocation.     

Human Impacts on Cable Beach,Broome (Western Australia)

There are concerns that Cable Beach, which is of outstanding natural beauty and a major tourist attraction for Broome and the Kimberley region of northwest Australia, is suffering damage from recreational use, particularly that caused by off-road vehicles. To assess current levels of human impact on the shore and its fauna, the southern-most kilometer of the Beach, covering an area to which vehicles had access and an adjacent area closed to vehicles, was surveyed for human usage and shore crab abundance. Human usage over the recording period was high in the area with high vehicular access. The amount of litter, although considerable, was well below that recorded in some other tourist destinations elsewhere in the world. Burrows of both the ghost crabs Ocypode spp, and the sand bubbler, Scopimera inflata, were less numerous in areas of high vehicle use than those of low use. Both species may be valuable in monitoring human impacts on Cable Beach.     

Agricultural vehicles and sustainable safe road traffic: solving conflicts on arterial highways

Addressing the issues of traffic safety in rural areas presents a constant challenge. The mix of light and heavy vehicles and the considerable differences in speed among these traffic participants result in high risks and delays for the faster vehicles. Agricultural vehicles (AVs) in particular have such an impact on traffic, especially when using arterial highways. This paper reviews the problems of safety and delays that AVs cause on arterial highways, and the appropriate mitigation. The concept of 'sustainable safety' in The Netherlands focuses on these problems, because of the proposed construction of parallel roads alongside all arterial highways. However, Dutch accident statistics cannot justify the high costs for the construction of parallel roads alongside 7000 km of arterial highways. Delays experienced by fast traffic are another reason for separating AVs from other road users with parallel roads. Alternative measures alongside the arterial highway, such as passing bays, restricting AVs to travelling at off-peak only and improving the conspicuity of the AVs, may be more cost-effective ways of reducing delays and/or improving traffic safety on arterial highways. Another solution may be to eliminate the need for AVs to use the arterial highway by altering their routes. For this purpose, land reallocation projects (as practised in Holland) can provide a useful tool.     

The Value of a Spillover Fishery for Spiny Lobsters Around a Marine Reserve in Northern New Zealand

The contribution that Leigh Marine Reserve in northern New Zealand makes to the local spiny lobster fishery was examined by comparing the catch characteristics of Jasus edwardsii around the reserve boundary with those from Coastal Leigh, 0.3-2 km from the reserve, and Little Barrier Island, 22-30 km from the reserve. Seasonal trends were apparent in the reserve catch characteristics, consistent with lobster movements into and out of offshore fishing areas adjacent to the boundary. No significant difference was detected in catch per unit effort (kg.trap haul -1 ) among locations. However, the catch around the marine reserve consisted of fewer but larger lobsters than at Little Barrier Island, while the size and number of lobsters caught per trap haul at Coastal Leigh was intermediate between the other two locations. Catch rates around the reserve were more variable than at the other sites, but on average, the amount of money made per trap haul was similar to Little Barrier Island and Coastal Leigh.     

Historic Monuments Threatened by Coastal Hazards at Boca do Rio,Algarve, Portugal

The coastal stretch of Boca do Rio, western Algarve, Portugal, is experiencing shoreline retreat. Roman ruins are located along the beach section of the coast, and a 17th-century fort is positioned over the cliff section. Both historic monuments are being destroyed by erosion but need to be protected due to their heritage status. Aerial photograph analysis was used to define the evolution of the coast for the period 1945–2001. Shoreline retreat of 0.3 m/year was measured for the sandy coast and 14 mass movements in the cliff face were identified. Considering the rate and style of shoreline evolution, several types of management scenario were evaluated, with the favored measures being the removal of the Roman ruins to a museum and the relocation of the fort inland.     

MINOE: A Software Tool to Analyze Ocean Management Efforts in the Context of Ecosystems

Transitioning ocean governance into an integrated ecosystem-based approach requires improved knowledge of existing governance arrangements. This article presents a software tool, MINOE, to assist policymakers, scientists, and others involved in ecosystem-based management initiatives to navigate through management documents as they relate to a user-defined ecosystem. The tool uses a conceptually modeled ecosystem, defined by the user, and text analysis of a set of management-related documents to determine which ecosystem linkages are potentially acknowledged in the documents. For illustration, the set of documents included with MINOE currently (and used to demonstrate the software in this article) are laws and regulations from four geopolitical jurisdictions for the year 2006; however, users may also import other documents for a more tailored application. Features include an interactive matrix containing results about the set of management documents within the user's scope and scale of interest. In addition, MINOE includes metrics and visualization tools to synthesize information derived from the documents. The article presents the software tool, describes potential uses for the tool, and ends with a discussion of future work to expand the program.     

A review of Australian traffic system design models

The demands for traffic infrastructure are increasing. Yet over the last decade investment in new infrastructure has decreased at all levels. Traffic systems designers are, therefore, being asked to be more accurate in their prediction of the impacts of changes, to analyse ever more complex situations and to extract more from the existing traffic system. This paper reviews developments in techniques for analysing the impacts of changes in the traffic system. It looks at intersection, route, network, parking lot and public transport design models that have been developed in Australia. Particular emphasis is given to the considerable developments in microcomputers and graphics and the impact these are having on the models. Future developments are also discussed.